MORE THAN 1,000 jobs were put at risk in the north of England and Scotland today amid continuing bad news for the British economy.

Unions attacked a move by Barclaycard to outsource hundreds of jobs at one of its UK call centres in Teesside to India. And DC Thomson, publisher of the children's comics the Beano and Dandy, said it would close one of its Dundee printing sites with the loss of 350 posts.

Barclaycard has started negotiations with Firstsource Solutions about handing operations at its Teesside call centre, which employs 700 people, to the Indian outsourcing firm.

If the talks are successful, Firstsource will take over the majority of the Teesside customer services for the credit card and payments business, as well as a related payment servicing team in Wavertree, Merseyside. A decision will be made later this year.

Rob McGregor, Unite national officer, said: "Unite has major concerns that this move is a first step on the way to the offshoring of these roles which would have a devastating effect on the job market in the North East. It appears that the long term plan is to transfer the work done by Barclaycard staff in Teesside abroad. It is vital that these 700 jobs remain in the region.

"This news is a blow for the North East and comes just one day after the devastating news about job losses at another large employer in the region, Northern Rock."

The union said Barclaycard's move was "very surprising" and "unnecessary" given that Barclaycard was a profitable operation. It believes that Barclaycard customers will be best served through keeping the business in-house.

Meanwhile the Dundee firm DC Thomson, which produces the Sunday Post newspaper as well as children's comics, is proposing to shut a printing and book-binding centre in the city.

A spokesman said the move came at a difficult time for the publishing industry and would ensure a strong future for the business, which was founded in 1905. The changes would not affect its newspaper production, the company said. No decision had been taken yet on where the affected titles, including the popular children's comics, would be printed, it added.

DC Thomson is a family-run company and employs more than 2,000 people. As well as its three sites in Dundee, it has offices in Glasgow, Manchester and London. It produces more than 100m copies of its newspapers, books, annuals, magazines and comics each year.

Dundee city council leader Ken Guild said: "This news will be a terrible blow for individuals and their families and I will be contacting the Scottish government to ensure that whatever assistance is available is provided to help find other employment or training."